[proudmama1]

Hi everyone,

Just a quick question for the teachers out there. Whilst looking at my son's report card (Vic), I have noticed that effort has been graded as very good. He has always been graded as excellent in previous reports.

My question is...how is this rating arrived at? What sort of qualities do teachers look for to arrive at an excellent rating for effort? He has been marked as excellent for behaviour. He tries really hard but sometimes has issues with perfectionism (this is getting better though). Is it a subjective measure or are there specific criteria that must be met?

Thanks!

[Jemstar]

Usually it is a fairly subjective measure. I've been teaching 15 years and I've never seen a set of criteria for assessing these descriptors.

However, the things I consider for 'effort' descriptors are:

How often the child is 'on task' and whether they stay on task
How quickly they get down to work
How much care they give to producing their work.

I consider whether they do this consistently, most of the time, some of the time etc. We no longer use 'excellent' etc in my state, but to get an excellent from me the student would have to display these kinds of behaviours consistently.

[jujujulie]

I am a teacher and the effort grade is purely subjective. If a child always tries their best, participates in class discussions, completes work of an excellent standard for them and is generally a delight to have in lessons then they will get excellent.

If it's most of the time, I give them very good.
If they are more often than not, Satisfactory and for those who do not complete work, have difficulty following instructions and do not attempt to do their best they will get lower than satisfactory.

Some teachers will have higher expectations than other teachers, and I also find that some teachers RARELY give excellent!

[JRA]

It is interesting, I always assume each teacher has their own thoughts. For me, as a parent, it is interesting to see the effort grade from a particular teacher and see how it has changed or not over time. This for instance is the 5th year ds has had marks from the PE, japanaese, music and art teacher, so I can see what changes.

For the year teacher it is really me seeing from the earlier report and this and comparing and seeing the comments.

ETA: I will also add to me, it is one of the most important marks I see on DS's report. That is what is important, is he trying.

This post has been edited by JRA: 09/12/2012, 09:33 AM

[proudmama1]

Thanks for the replies. You have all been very helpful.

[nlman]

At our school there are criteria. You get an effort grade of 1 (the highest) you must be doing this like seeking and completing extra work. Most students receive 2 / 3.